This invention relates to an inflatable emergency evacuation escape slide used primarily on aircraft, off-shore drilling platforms and the like; and more particularly to a new and improved inflatable escape slide that has a strap means to pucker the material at the folded portion of the slide to insure proper deployment under adverse weather conditions.
In the deployment of escape slides under emergency conditions it is necessary to evacuate the passengers and the crew members as quickly as possible. The invention will be described and generally directed to an aircraft but the invention is equally applicable to other fields of use such as off-shore drilling platforms.
The inflatable escape slide is stored adjacent to an egress or exit door of an aircraft in a deflated condition and when necessary to use, the deflated slide is deployed outwardly from the aircraft. The slide, as it is extended outwardly from the egress door momentarily hangs in a relatively limp condition. In this position the deflated escape slide is highly vulnerable to wind deflection particularly cross winds which can direct it underneath the aircraft to render it useless as an escape slide.
In the deployment process where delayed restraint devices are employed to control the release of the folded portions, it has been found desirable to use back-up supplementary devices of restraints because of sharp or large pressure load changes that are prematurely encountered due to the restrictions imposed during deployment as the slide unfolds. In these instances the inflating pressure can exert an undesirable transient random load as a ram effect on the newly unfolding portion because of the restriction caused by the fold and the forces acting on it including the cross winds. These ram effect loadings can effect premature release of the restraint devices and are counterproductive in their effect and usually result in an unusable escape slide. It must also be borne in mind that external wind forces also compound the loading problem of these restraints and accordingly applicant's invention provides the means to prevent these unusual loadings thereby eliminating ram effect loadings.
The present invention employs a unique extensible member at the fold portion of a slide which insures the unimpeded passage of pressurized air between folded sections particularly at the folds of an escape slide being deployed, eliminating the random ram effects and premature loading of the pressurized air flow.